Sri Lanka to set up hotline to track visa-abusing Russians and Ukrainians

Colombo, Apr 10 (PTI) Sri Lanka’s Parliament has stressed the need to track down Russian and Ukrainian tourists who are carrying out businesses in the country's southern resorts by abusing their tourist entry visas.

The Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) on Tuesday asked the Department of Immigration and Emigration to track them down for necessary action.

The parliamentarians had pointed out that both nationalities, and in certain cases the Israeli tourists, were doing business illegally, depriving the local communities of opportunities.

The officials told COPA that their locations were hard to track down and they welcomed information from the locals.

It was then decided to set up a hotline for the purpose so that relevant officials could be promptly activated to take action.

In March, immigration authorities said the extended visas of Russian and Ukrainian tourists to stay in Sri Lanka due to the Ukrainian war would no longer be extended.

Immigration authorities said there had been complaints of abuse of tourist visas by Russians and Ukrainians running illegal businesses, employing foreigners, and deploying payment methods for services by passing local systems. PTI CORR NPK NPK NPK